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The Three Weissmanns of Westportby Cathleen Schine |
Gail Reid: The Three Weissmanns of Westport brings all the humor of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility to twenty-first century New York. Betty Weissmann finds herself divorced at 75 after a long and prosperous marriage to Joseph, who has fallen for his younger assistant Felicity. (Betty refers to her as "Duplicity".) Displaced from their luxurious Manhattan apartment, Betty resettles in a Westport, CT "cottage" owned by her benevolent cousin. Somehow, her adult daughters, Annie and Miranda, outraged at their stepfather's behavior, end up moving with her and try to make do with less.
Miranda, a once free spirited literary agent,is publicly humiliated on Oprah, when her clients' literary
memoirs turn out to be fake. Practical Annie, long divorced and in a rut, tries to tame her sister
and control her mother's frivolous spending. Love interests, of course, cycle in and out. The story
would be just another soap opera with outrageous incidents and coincidences galore, were it not such
a clever farce. Fun reading only!
Rating: ****
Arlene Almas: Betty Weissmann and her
middle-aged daughters Annie and Miranda find themselves living together in
Cousin Lou's guest cottage in Westport, Conn. when Betty's husband Joseph
unexpectedly announces his intention to divorce her and marry Felicity,
a VP at Joseph's company. Although Joseph is Annie's and Miranda's stepfather,
their relationship has always been very close and loving, but this turn of
events turns all three Weissmann women squarely against him. Needless to say,
it's not easy for three grown women to share a little house, and Miranda has
relationship issues of her own while her big sister Annie continues her lifetime
habit of taking responsibility for Miranda, constantly watching out for her.
Other men, women, and children play their roles in the Weissmanns' story,
with its many comic moments in spite of the distressing event which set
the narrative in motion. Schine brings Betty, Annie, Miranda, and the
rest to vivid life, so that we care deeply about the conclusion.
Rating: *****
